et cetera, would do this because they would rather have the republican do these kind of cuts to the pentagon than a democrat? >> boy, i don't think that was his -- he worked for something that was in the national security space, chuck hagel did, for some period of time. i think he built a relationship with the president. he is a vietnam veteran, a decorated vietnam veteran at that, and that's why the president selected him. the problem was, the senate now and certainly senator reed can talk to him better than i can, having difficulty both sides of the aisle, to see if he's ready and able to lead the pentagon. >> i think mike is exactly right about why he was chosen, experience and at a combat veteran, as a business leader and the second deputy head of the v.a. in the reagan administration and he's got the confidence of the president. i don't think this was designed to provoke a fight. i think in fact what's happened is very unusual, unprecedented review, asking for speeches, going back five years, asking for all sorts of material we've never requested of confirmation before. we're confident